Department store group House of Fraser has reported a record Christmas trading period boosted by a strong Black Friday.

GENERAL MERCHANDISE

House of Fraser reports record Christmas sales

6 January 2015 | by The Retail Bulletin

Department store group House of Fraser has reported a record Christmas trading period boosted by a strong Black Friday.

In the six weeks to 3 January 2015, like-for-like sales rose by 8%. Trade was driven by strong online sales which climbed 31.2% in the period. Meanwhile, like-for-like sales in the retailer’s stores increased by 4.2%.

House of Fraser said it delivered sales growth in all of its categories although its house brands performed particularly well with sales rising by 11.2%.

Black Friday online sales increased by over 125% on the previous year and were up nearly 70% on the retailer’s previous largest online sales day.

The retailer said the strong sales continued throughout the trading period culminating in a record last seven days before Christmas when sales rose by 6.8%.

House of Fraser chief executive John King said: "We are delighted with our Christmas trading performance. This year we saw a very strong start to the key Christmas season with Black Friday being particularly successful.

"This positive momentum continued over the entire critical selling period with a record sales level during the final week before Christmas. Our performance demonstrates the success of our strategy to continuously improve our online proposition, develop both our House Brands and premium branded proposition and invest in our stores to give our customers the best possible shopping experience."

House of Fraser said like-for-like sales for the first 10 weeks of the fourth quarter have risen by 6.7%.

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